Car Damage

After years of waiting for his new car which i bought someone has smashed into dads car, they were not in it thank goodness, it was parked in Lanchester and when they returned the rear passenger door was all bashed in.
Being in the North of the Uk where people are honest there was also a note on the windscreen with the persons details and contact number so at least it will be fixed at no expense to my parents.
They never have much look with new cars and there last car was also only weeks old before it had its first accident, i will add my father is a fantastic driver and never was to blame for any of the incidents, just bad luck.
I let things like this ride over my head now as so much bad feeling, war and death in this world that a replaceable car door and no injuries is really nothing to lose sleep over.
I must remember to post my lovely nephews birthday card and present as it is his birthday on 22nd Feb, the day before mine.

Written in flight to Hong Kong

This was written on a flight to Hong Kong on Valentines day,

It is now 0235 in the morning, we have been flying for 4 hours and 30 minutes en route to Hong Kong. I am in First Class alone as my colleagues are on their rest and it is at times like this i realise how lonely things can be in this job!!
I had a bad day at home before i left for this flight, my dog walker cannot have Megan all day Sunday although she will walk her twice and sit with her in the evening but she hates to be alone so i will be stressing about that.
I had a disagreement with a good friend which is praying on my mind, and the cruise i booked online on 13th Feb has not been confirmed as they say they cannot honour their advertised prices so i have emailed the trading standards and will see what they think of it all.
The credit crunch is hitting us all hard, Ged's job is safe but things for me could change if BA manage to change our terms and conditions, they will have a huge fight with the unions, let's hope we meet halfway and then we will all be happy, it is with no doubt changes will have to be made to save money as all companies are struggling now, especially airlines.
Last week i was stuck in San Francisco for 7 days when the trip should only have been 4 days, the snow was to blame and the flight cancellations, the south east was hit pretty bad and they do not cope with it well as so ill prepared. Being stuck in a 5* hotel which is pre paid by the airline, allowances paid for food and all i want to do is get home, well, after 21 years flying in this job the expression "there's no place like home" springs to mind and there is nothing can make you go ahhhhhhhhh as much as getting into your "own" bed.
The 14 passenger (full) or "customers" as we now have to refer to them as, are all fast asleep, lying on their mattress toppers, heads on their fluffy feather pillows and hiding snuggly under their own duvets in their 6ft6" fully flat beds after a 7 course dinner and now wearing their supplies Pyjamas, they do pay thousands of pounds for the privilegeand are in a different league from Joe Public cramped in economy with 31" of legroom.
I have 3 hours 20 mins rest in the crew bunks, a very small area at the rear of the 747, it houses 8 bunk beds neatly arranged, it can get very warm up there with 8 bodies and also rather smelly at times....say no more!!!
When i get back from my break i am thrown into the breakfast service which is not my favourite part of the flight, and after a 14 hour duty day the brain can take a little longer to register the simplest of requests, or is that old age....i will stick with fatigue i think!!!
The aircraft is completely full to capacity and we even have staff on jump seats (spare crew seats)but the flight we operate home in 3 days time is really quiet with a total of about 90 passenger on a 747, one in first and 17 out of 70 in Business, we do have three flight a day and ours is the last one so maybe people take earlier ones, or is it the credit crunch!!! time will tell.
We will have a very long break on this flight home with little to do so when we land at 0600 in the morning i may feel more refreshed than usual, i will have to walk Megan and i may be able to do it without feeling like i am going to fall asleep on my feet or even worse, faint.
I love getting home, i feel safe, content and my dog gives me such unconditional love that i get excited when i put the key in the door and she can barely stand up as she is wagging her little bum so much...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh bless!!!
She is 9 now and we treat every day as it comes, she has spondylosis ( arthritis of the spine) and her 150mg of Norocorp ( rimadyl) every day allow her to lead as normal life as possible,when she was first diagnosed we had to carry her to the car to take her to the vets as she was lame,now she manages to walk well, a little stiff at first in the morning but after a couple of minutes walking she gets going, i think you can tell that we love her very very much.




Siberia

Megan Hiding under the duvet before i left for my trip.

I have just returned from Mauritius, had a bad trip, when i checked in at Heathrow i saw the obituary board and a guy who used to do Heathrow panto had died of cancer age 42, it sure brings things home, i am almost 3 years older than him and he did not even smoke.
It sort of brings a lot of sayings home eg "don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today" or "treat every day as your last as one day you will be right!"

I keep forgetting to take my pills then wonder when i have a down day!!! Megan is fine and spent her second only ever night away from home with th dogwalker/sitter, i do nto worry about her as she loves it there.

The house could do with a little makeover, paint and clean so i will think about that, money is not tight at all, infact i have more than i need but with the "credit crunch" being rammed down our necks by the press and media i think we are all a little cautious.

Update on Woody the lost dog.

Mum called the vets and he has been rehomed in the same village my parents live in,he is now a happy dog in a loving home.
I am so pleased i did not ignore his cries for help in the woods on 23rd December or i doubt the poor little fella would be with us now but would be in doggie heaven.
I am so happy for him, a great dog, lovely personality and now warm, loved, and well fed and walked.
Hope i see him soon when i am out and about.

Helping others with depression

I thoroughly enjoy helping others with mental health issues, it is something i do anonymously and no one knows about it. Currently i am in contact with a BA crew member who takes high dosages of anti-depressants, i am on 20mg he takes 60mg per day as he was on the verge of committing suicide.
He was pretty low but what has made matters worse is that his partner walked out on him just before Christmas, he broke down completely and i was trying to help out as best i could, saying the right words, telling him how special he was to others, his family, friends but i was at my own parents hundreds of miles away so could not be there.
He is getting there now, he has become stronger and more positive, i am happy he will not do anything stupid.
Mental Illnesses are very very common, but society and their ignorance of it make it difficult for the individual to recognise or talk about.
Joe Public are under the influence that we are all "mad".
What has helped me this Christmas is seeing mum and dad in their new car which i paid for and their happiness. BY sending my oldest nephew a Christmas card and presents and receiving a "merry christmas" text message was also nice and comforting.
I am happy with that.
I do not know what the future will bring as far as BA is concerned, many rumours about changes in contracts, terms and conditions and pay. We will all have to wait and see.

Lost Dog

When out walking my own dog i was saddened to come across a lost spaniel, he was all dirty, cold and starving, i only had the one dog leash so had to call home for someone to meet me with another lease, i was about half a mile from home in a large wooded area so the little fella happily followed me home, we hosed him down, fed him massive amounts of food, he was ravenous. I used a hairdryer to dry him off and make him feel warmer. We took him to the vets and he was not chipped,they relunctantly decided to take him in as a stray as RSPCA were not available as it was 23rd December at 330pm, luckily a lady was seeing the vert with one of her dogs and she heard our tale and she rescued spaniels and promised to find him a new home. We called him Woody as he was found in the woods and i think of him every day.
Mam was very upset when we left him behind but a cage in a vets with food, water, and a blanket is better than under a tree on top of some leaves in a freezing wood.

Good Luck Woody!!

Just a couple of famous people. Alistair Stewart the ITN newsreader coming back from the Beijing Olympics and Freddie Ljungbeg travelling out to Seattle, the Arsenal Footballer and Armani model...very handsome and a good friend.